A federal judge has upheld the verdict and award in E. Jean Carroll’s defamation case against former President Donald Trump, rejecting Trump’s motion for a new trial. Judge Lewis Kaplan deemed Trump’s legal arguments unfounded and upheld the punitive damages awarded to Carroll.
Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, expressed satisfaction with the court’s decision, noting that the jury’s decision to award $83 million in damages was justified. She emphasized Trump’s continued defamation of Carroll during the trial and his behavior in the courtroom as contributing factors to the verdict.
E. Jean Carroll and Trump (Credits: Mediaite)
Carroll, a former magazine columnist, accused Trump of raping her in the mid-1990s and subsequently defaming her by denying her claim. In a separate case, Trump was found liable for the sexual assault in a jury trial last year.
The defamation case arose from Trump’s denial of Carroll’s allegations in 2019, leading to the jury finding him liable for defamation and ordering him to pay $83.3 million in punitive and compensatory damages earlier this year.
Trump’s legal team argued that the damages awarded to Carroll were excessive, but Judge Kaplan dismissed this argument, citing the severity of Trump’s attacks on Carroll, which reached millions of people and endangered her well-being.
E. Jean Carroll (Credits: Rolling Stone)
The judge referenced Trump’s behavior during the trial, including his abrupt departure from the courtroom during Carroll’s testimony and his disparaging remarks, as evidence of his disdain for the proceedings.
The verdict underscores the accountability held by a jury of ordinary citizens, challenging Trump’s claims of mistreatment by politicians or their appointees.
The judgment comes in the middle of Trump’s ongoing criminal trial in another courtroom, where he faces charges of falsifying business records to conceal an affair before the 2016 election, awaiting the decision of another jury of New Yorkers.
